Many articles of wear benefit from traction elements. Such articles of wear come into contact with a surface or another item and benefit from the increased friction and stability provided by traction elements. Traction elements typically form a portion of the ground-contact surface of the article of wear. Many traction elements form protrusions that extend away from the surface of the article of wear toward the ground or other surface that contacts the article of wear. Some traction elements are shaped or configured to pierce the ground or surface when the article of wear comes into contact with the ground or surface. Other fraction elements are shaped or have characteristics that engage with the ground in a way that increases the friction between the article of wear and the surface that it contacts. Such traction elements increase lateral stability between the traction element and the ground or surface and reduce the risk that the article of wear will slide or slip when it contacts the ground or surface.
Many people wear footwear, apparel, and athletic and protective gear and expect these articles of wear to provide traction and stability during use. For example, articles of footwear may include traction elements that are attached to a sole structure that forms the ground-contact surface of the article of footwear. The traction elements provide gripping characteristics that help create supportive and secure contact between the wearer's foot and the ground. These traction elements typically increase the surface area of the ground-contact surface of the footwear and often form protrusions that are usually shaped or configured to pierce the ground and/or create friction between the ground-contact surface of the footwear and the ground or surface that it contacts.
These traction elements usually are solid protrusions that are static with respect to the article of footwear. This means that the traction elements and the footwear move as a single unit, i.e., the traction elements remain stationary with respect to the footwear. The traction elements progress through the bending and flexing motions of the step or run cycle in the same way as the rest of the sole structure of the footwear. This configuration limits traction capabilities because it cannot adapt to the various forces being applied to the article of wear or the changing environments in which the article of footwear is being used.
Athletes engaged in certain sports such as soccer, baseball, and football often utilize footwear having traction elements. These athletes perform various movements that have sudden starts, stops, twisting, and turning. Additionally, most athletes wish to wear their articles of footwear in various environments with surfaces having different conditions and characteristics. On many occasions, the static traction elements are unable to provide adequate support and traction that the athlete needs to perform the various movements. The static traction elements simply cannot adapt to the changing movements of these athletes or the various environments in which the athletes wear the articles of footwear. Rather, the static traction elements provide the same type and amount of traction during all movements and in all environments, regardless of the type of movement being performed by the athlete or the characteristics of the environment in which the articles of footwear are being worn.
Additionally, various surfaces on which the athlete wishes to wear their articles of footwear have many different characteristics including different hardnesses and contours. For example, an athlete may utilize studded footwear on a playing field made of grass or a synthetic material similar in nature to grass. Many of these playing fields are outdoors and the conditions of the fields are subject to weather conditions, varying degrees of maintenance performed on the surfaces, regional (geographical) surface differences, and the like. For example, athletes that usually practice on a grass field that is rather soft may find that their cleated footwear functions differently on a grass field that is hard, such as when the athlete plays a game at another location or the weather causes the field conditions to harden the surface. By wearing the same cleats on all surfaces, wearers are at greater risk of falling, sliding, and/or otherwise injuring themselves, at least under such circumstances in which the static traction elements provided on the article of footwear are not well-designed for use under the field conditions. The alternative is to purchase several different pairs of cleated footwear with varying types of traction to accommodate several different surfaces. However, this method is expensive and inconvenient.
Therefore, while some traction elements are currently available, there is room for improvement in this art. For example, articles of wear having traction elements that may be self-adjusting to provide a user with traction that automatically adjusts based on the type of surface with which the article of wear is in contact and the types of forces applied to the traction elements would be a desirable advancement in the art.